Summer Journal 2012, August 31

Kiss August Goodbye.  I think this is a rather hard spell for Stell.  He has sent emails to three individuals that were not easy to send and suggesting that if any of these folks want to speak with him before we leave, he is available.  One is a young man who he has assisted with a business start up for the past ten years.  He (Stell) has determined it is time to "cut the rope", and the young man must now deliver on his own.  This young man, both in the States and here, typically would phone twice a day for conversation and sometimes guidance.  The other was an email to two brothers of the family who has looked after the house and benefitted from the produce of olives and grapes on the property and some cultivation of wheat for almost thirty years.  Now Stell is turning the property over to another fellow, and unfortunately the older caregivers and this new man are not on good terms.  This was definitely hard for Stell to do, but it is his property and one day will be Paris', so he definitely has the right to make the decisions that he thinks are best for the management of the place.  Nonetheless, dissolving relationships is never easy.

The long view

 

I had my picture taken with the Captain today.  I think he is the most respected man at Sultana's.  Every day when he finishes his ouzo, a younger gentleman drives him home. 

 

 

Costis Mamoupolis phoned while we were at Miloz.  He is going to try and come tomorrow with Athena and Angelos.  This will be great.  Nic will like it if I have a chance to see him.  I think he was Nic's favorite friend here.  I know he has wanted to leave Greece - go to London or perhaps South Africa, where Athena was raised.  We've heard that England has put a stop on so much Greek immigration.  All of the bright, young people seem anxious to leave because of the "crisis."